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Digital Media and Technology

Digital media and technology are ever-evolving, and so is their relationship to theatre. In this section, you can learn about how theatremakers are incorporating media and tech into their art-making and career-building, as well as read New Crit pieces about work created to be shared online. Two interesting series to explore for a sense of how quickly the conversations change are Gwydion Suilebhan’s Techne—essays written in 2013 and 2014—and Performing the Internet, curated by Kate Bergstrom in January 2021. Check out content from the 2019 Digital + Performance Convening for a multifaceted look at this topic!

The Latest

Theatre By and For Gamers
Podcast
Theatre By and For Gamers
by Tjaša Ferme, Emma Bexell
14 March 2024
Aerial Performance in a Wheelchair 
Podcast
Aerial Performance in a Wheelchair 
by Tjaša Ferme, Laurel Lawson
7 March 2024
Gore and Myth in Theatre Mitu's (holy) BLOOD
Podcast
Gore and Myth in Theatre Mitu's (holy) BLOOD
by Tjaša Ferme, Rubén Polendo
29 February 2024
an actress onstage
A Look into Theatre’s FutVRe
Essay

A Look into Theatre’s FutVRe

18 April 2019

Carley B. Johnson examines two recent projects that link theatre with virtual reality and augmented reality.

actors onstage underneath a large projection
Harnessing the Combined Power of Theatre and TV
Essay

Harnessing the Combined Power of Theatre and TV

7 April 2019

Camille Cuzzupoli examines the themes present in Manual Cinema’s production The End of TV.

Accessibility icon. A figure of a human with their arms and legs spread in an open position representing universal accessibility for the web
Making Your Website Accessible is Vital to Your Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion Efforts
Essay

Making Your Website Accessible is Vital to Your Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion Efforts

31 March 2019

Vijay Mathew discusses how the HowlRound team has worked, and continues to work, to make HowlRound.com an accessible platform.

performer in a red dress looking at multiple reflections with herself in a mirror
Performances of La Medea by Yara Travieso
Video

Performances of La Medea by Yara Travieso

A Greek Tragedy Reimagined as a Latin-Disco Variety Show—Miami Dade College Live Arts

Thursday 25 October to Saturday 27 October 2018
Miami, Florida, USA

Miami Dade College Live Arts presented La Medea—a Greek Tragedy Reimagined as a Latin-Disco Variety Show—by Yara Travieso livestreamed on the global, commons-based peer produced HowlRound TV network at howlround.tv Thursday 25 October, Friday 26 October, and Saturday 27 October 2018 at 8 p.m. EDT (New York) / 7 p.m. CDT (Chicago) / 5 p.m. PDT (Los Angeles).

Hacking Arts Logo
Panels from Hacking Arts 2018
Video

Panels from Hacking Arts 2018

Massachusetts Institute of Technology Media Lab

Saturday-Sunday 13-14 October 2018
MA, United States

Hacking Arts presented the Hacking Arts 2018 Festival at the MIT Media Lab livestreamed on the global, commons-based peer produced HowlRound TV network at howlround.tv on Saturday and Sunday 13-14 October 2018.

a drawing of a building on fire
Playing Around with Nineteenth-Century Theatre in Dr. Robert Davis’s Broadway: 1849
Podcast

Playing Around with Nineteenth-Century Theatre in Dr. Robert Davis’s Broadway: 1849

Theatre History Podcast #65

25 July 2018

Could you make it as the manager of a New York City theatre in the 1840s? That's the question that Dr. Robert Davis's game and app Broadway:1849 poses to players. Robert joins us to talk about the rough-and-tumble world of New York's antebellum theatre.

foldA: festival of live digital Art with SpiderWebShow Performance
Video

foldA: festival of live digital Art with SpiderWebShow Performance

Wednesday 20 June 2018
Kingston, Ontario, Canada

SpiderWebShow Performance presented foldA: festival of live digital Art at the Isabel Bader Centre for the Performing Arts, Queen's University in Kingston, Ontario, Canada livestreamed on the global, commons-based peer produced HowlRound TV network at howlround.tv Wednesday 20 June 2018.

The NEH Institute 2018: Digital Technologies in Theatre and Performance Studies
Video

The NEH Institute 2018: Digital Technologies in Theatre and Performance Studies

University of Georgia

Monday 18 June - Thursday 28 June 2018
Athens, GA, United States

The University of Georgia’s Department of Theatre and Film Studies presented the NEH Institute 2018: Digital Technologies in Theatre and Performance Studies livestreamed from commons-based peer produced HowlRound TV network at howlround.tv on Monday 18 June - Thursday 28 June 2018.

Performance of A Tale of Two Tricksters
Video

Performance of A Tale of Two Tricksters

Pregones Theater

Saturday, April 14, 2018
The Bronx, NY & Anchorage, Alaska, United States

The fifth season of Artspace’s Art Bridge program culminated in Pregones/Puerto Rican Traveling Theater and Alaska Native Heritage Center presenting an experimental workshop performance of A Tale of Two Tricksters, livestreamed from the The Bronx in New York City and Anchorage, Alaska on the global, commons-based peer produced HowlRound TV network at howlround.tv. Tune in Saturday, April 14, 2018 at 8 p.m. EDT (New York, UTC -4) / 7 p.m. CDT (Chicago, UTC -3) / 5 p.m. PDT (Los Angeles, UTC -7) / 4 p.m. AKDT (Anchorage, UTC -8).

“These are not natural events”
Essay

“These are not natural events”

Ariel’s Technodramaturgy in the Royal Shakespeare Company’s The Tempest

11 January 2018

Anchuli Felicia King explores use of motion capture and the construction of an embodied and artificial Ariel in the RSC’s version of The Tempest.

the​ ​parasite​
Essay

the​ ​parasite​

​ ​An​ ​Alternate​ ​Reality​ ​Game​ ​for​ ​Orientation

7 January 2018

For Orientation at the UChicago 2017, an alternate reality game was created by faculty, designers, and students that engaged social media, virtual reality and real life to encourage students to explore campus and build relationships with one another.

Will Future Storytelling Include Live Theatre?
Essay

Will Future Storytelling Include Live Theatre?

15 November 2017

Jonathan Mandell looks at the Future of Storytelling festival in Staten Island, New York, which featured exhibits, productions, and performances using virtual reality, augmented reality, and mixed reality techniques and technology.

P3M5
Video

P3M5

Plurality of Privacy Project in Five-Minute Plays

Sunday 5 November 2017
Austin, TX, United States

The VORTEX in Austin, Texas presents a performance of P3M5: Plurality of Privacy Project in Five-minute Plays, livestreaming on the global, commons-based peer-produced HowlRound TV network at howlround.tv Sunday 5 November at 9 p.m. EST (New York) / 8 p.m. CST (Chicago) / 6 p.m. PST (Los Angeles).

Elements of Oz
Essay

Elements of Oz

Pay Attention to the Men Behind the Curtain

17 January 2017

Amelia Parenteau deconstructs the use of technology in The Builders Association’s production of Elements of Oz, an adaptation of The Wizard of Oz, presented at 3LD in New York City.

Location-Based and Audience-Aware Storytelling
Essay

Location-Based and Audience-Aware Storytelling

Grace Plains and Bodies for a Global Brain

8 January 2017

The process of creating two works, as part of the UCLA School of Theater, Film and Television’s participation in Google's Glass Creative Collective, that use audience's and actors' locations, identities, and choices as pivotal elements of their storytelling structures and investigating the simultaneous processes of dramatic writing/devising and writing code.

Beyond Liveness
Essay

Beyond Liveness

The Dramaturgies of Augmented Reality in Live Theatre

12 November 2016

Anchuli Felicia King discusses augmented reality technologies, one of the most radical technological advances affecting the theatre today and the unique dramaturgies and opportunities provided by AR in theatre.

On the Need for a Technological Theatre
Essay

On the Need for a Technological Theatre

17 October 2016

Zachary Small calls for theatre to move beyond the living room play and explore the technological realm.

Cellphones in the Theatre May Offer More Than Just Unforgivable Distraction
Essay

Cellphones in the Theatre May Offer More Than Just Unforgivable Distraction

7 September 2016

Billy McEntee discusses the use of cellphones in recent Broadway and Off-Broadway productions.

Mixed Reality and the Theatre of the Future
Essay

Mixed Reality and the Theatre of the Future

22 July 2016

Researcher and lecturer Joris Weijdom of HKU University of the Arts Utrecht, Netherlands on what the Internet of things, transmedia, and mixed reality might mean for theatremakers and theatremaking. 

Art Forms in Flux
Essay

Art Forms in Flux

An Artist’s Interpretation of State Park in “Rod”

2 May 2016

In this installment, Koy Suntichotinun discusses his process for creating a performance piece interpreting Aaron Weissman’s State Park, in which he incorporates social media.

Performance of @tension beta-tested by #viralflock
Video

Performance of @tension beta-tested by #viralflock

Friday 29 April 2016
Edmonton, Alberta, Canada

Pretentious Productions in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada presented @tension beta-tested by #viralflock livestreamed on the global, commons-based peer-produced HowlRound TV network at howlround.tv on Friday 29 April at 9:30 p.m. EDT (Toronto) / 8:30 p.m. CDT (Winnipeg) / 7:30 p.m. MDT (Calgary) / 6:30 p.m. PDT (Vancouver) / (Saturday, April 30 at 01:30 GMT). Follow @tensionshow on Twitter, and use #howlround.

Keynote Speech Mixed Reality and the Theatre of the Future by Joris Weijdom
Video

Keynote Speech Mixed Reality and the Theatre of the Future by Joris Weijdom

Saturday 16 April 2016
Amsterdam, Netherlands

IETM’s Plenary Meeting in Amsterdam: Live Art in Digital Times presented the keynote speech Mixed Reality and the Theatre of the Future by Joris Weijdom livestreamed on the global, commons-based peer-produced HowlRound TV network at howlround.tv Saturday 16 April at 12:00-13:00 CEST (Amsterdam) / 11 a.m.-12 p.m. BST (London) / 10:00-11:00 GMT / 6 a.m.-7 a.m. EDT (New York) / 13:00-14:00 EEST (Bucharest) / 15:30-16:30 IST (New Delhi) / 18:00-19:00 SGT (Singapore) / 19:00-20:00 JST (Tokyo) / 20:00-21:00 AEST (Sydney). You can share your impressions of the speech by using the hashtag #IETMAmsterdam on twitter. 

Set and Media Design, Part 1
Essay

Set and Media Design, Part 1

21 March 2016

In this installment, Daniel Fine discusses the relationship between the scenic designer and media designer, advocating direct collaboration earlier in the production process.

Watch and Share
Essay

Watch and Share

Theatre in the Digital Age

14 March 2016

Playwright Lia Romeo discusses the innovative approaches two theatre companies have taken to incorporate technology into the audience experience of her play Connected.

Socially Engaged Performance
Video

Socially Engaged Performance

A Global Conversation

Sunday 13 March 2016
New York City, NY, United States

La MaMa and Theatre Without Borders presented a one-day international convening Socially Engaged Performance: A Global Conversation livestreamed on the global, commons-based peer-produced HowlRound TV network at howlround.tv on Sunday 13 March at 7 a.m. PDT (Los Angeles) / 10 a.m. EDT (New York) / 14:00 GMT (London) / 15:00 CET (Berlin) / 16:00 EET (Ramallah / Johannesburg) / 19:30 IST (New Delhi) / 22:00 SGT (Singapore) / 23:00 KST (Seoul / Tokyo). In Twitter, tweet your comments and questions @_TWB_ and use hashtag #howlround. Additionally follow @HowlRoundTV for updates.